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Various tracks from the Hadouk Trio’s Live à Fip were given a paced and rhythmically propulsive lift while presenting accurate timbre nuances from their diverse Middle Eastern instruments. Similar textural information was found in Ben Harper’s "Please me Like You Want To" from his second release Fight For Your Mind where Harper’s vocal cuts through the mix and the detail and separation on the steel-stringed guitar is superlative. Harper’s drummer is a master of the instrument and, throughout the album, his cymbal strikes and cow bells were extended with beautiful decays via the Origine. The player handled the high frequencies extremely well. And the Origine’s subtly forward upper mids delivered a stunningly snappy attack on the snare.
 
Peter McGrath’s extraordinary piano capture on Earl Wild’s Live From Carnegie Hall also showed the Origine’s strengths and one small chink in its formidable armour. The dynamic range in this recording is stunning and in the various tracks Wild utilizes the instrument’s full spectrum to best effect. The Origine played back this glorious recording in all its majesty in terms of the piano’s attack, note decay, textural complexity and all-round grandeur. It was only within the scope of some notes within a narrow band that, again, that marginal forwardness in the upper mids revealed itself.


Big orchestral pieces were another Origine strength. Beethoven’s Symphony N°3 'Eroica' as conducted by Sir George Solti with the Wiener Philarmoniker was spectacular. The Origine conveying the piece’s magnificence without foreshortening its dynamic impact or truncating its enormous sense of space across the breadth, depth and height of the presentation. All of the above applied to both computer and CD playback, with the latter being slightly more detailed and a tad more dynamic. This however could have been a result of my PC/Mac systems having a bit of room to improve and/or maybe even the USB cable and my playback software’s relationship to other non-audio related computer activities.

Conclusion. The Origine is certainly something out of the ordinary. Yes it is within the uppermost reaches of pricing but you won’t find a better-built player which is both player and DAC. In addition and in typical French flair, the unit is distinctive and styled with, um… original design cues that set it apart from the usual black/silver boxes. Its sound is powerful, extremely detailed, beautifully textured and walloped with among the tightest bass I’ve heard in my system. Its marginally forward upper mids will be a true blessing to systems that are a tad syrupy and/or laid back. They will be injected with a new lease of life and find the Origine revelatory. Many with a more neutral setup may still appreciate a slightly forward presentation while others may be able to tweak the Origine’s sound with a cable or your tweak methodology of choice. But to be sure, those who endeavour such tuning activities will be rewarded with a phenomenal CD and computer playback system.

Quality of packing: Double box cartons.
Reusability of packing: Will last for years.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: No problems.  
Condition of component received: As new.
Completeness of delivery: All as should be.
Quality of owner's manual: Standard fare but with comprehensive functional coverage aside from computer audio trouble shooting.
Website comments: Well designed with adequate product information.
Warranty: 12 months.                                
Human or web interactions: Very prompt email interchanges facilitated by the very competent local distributor ZenSati Australia.

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